Miss Millie : Monkey Maker

That was when I ruled the world.

It's been a quiet day at work so I've been doing a little "internet based research" to fill the time. A couple of things have caught my eye and really, really deserve to be shared.

A photo essay of a denim factory in Kentucky who specialise in high end designer brands. It was a revelation to me that the distressing of jeans is done by hand, I'd always assumed there would be a machine built for such a task. Like a giant tumble dryer filled with rocks?

And from the No-Matter-How-Much-You-Love-Your-Pet/Spouse/Child-It's-Still-Not-OK files - garments made from the hair of the dog. I warn you... it's creepy!

Millie x

Craft 2.0 Wellington

Craft 2.0 was a great ol crafty shindig in Wellington yesterday. Two suitcases of craft went north with me and half a suitcase of craft came home with me (some of which was craft of others) so needless to say it was a successful day for the Pink Paper Pinafore. It was also a real pleasure to meet some of my counterparts from the lower north - Wellington has some supremely talented boys and girls.

I'm feeling a bit tired and lazy today and have spent most of it blobbed on the couch catching up on all the Family Guy episodes I missed while on holiday. So in the spirit of true Sunday laziness I'm not even going to plug my own camera in to post the photos I took yesterday. Instead, here's some photos Mel took:

Here's Jan and I below. Mel actually took a really great shot of the monkeys but it also features me and my double chin so once I've edited me out I'll post it.

Millie x

Sydney 3

I ventured to the Paddy’s Market in Chinatown today which seemed like a good idea right up until I got there. I was exhausted after just a few minutes of being there. Endless row upon row of imported “goods”… oh, my head hurts just thinking about it. If you come to Sydney I say, don’t do it!

I tried to balance the experience out by spending a few hours at the Chinese Gardens. The perfect place in a busy city like Sydney to just sit and be peaceful.

And I made some friends…

We had an appointment with a Genius this afternoon. I was thoroughly impressed by the stairwell but even I can appreciate the irony of going to the Apple Store and only taking a photo of the stairs. So for my geeks there’s also a shot of the Genius Bar.

Homeward bound tomorrow. Goodbye sunny Sydney, you’ve been great. Let’s do it again some time.

Millie x

Sydney 2

I do think holidays should be about exploration and trying new things but I also firmly believe that a good day starts with a good coffee and once a great café is located it’s perfectly ok to stick with it for the duration of a holiday. We found Strand Espresso. It’s just a wee place in the middle of another charming Sydney arcade but it was full to the brim with suits waiting on takeaway coffee so we figured it was a pretty safe bet.

Basically the second after we’d booked our flights to Sydney I started researching craft shopping possibilities in the city. All signs pointed to Tapestry Craft, and for good reason! Although the name is a little misleading this place is actually 2 floors of handicraft heaven.

Look at the knitted critters at the bottom of one of their window displays!

Level  1 – Tapestry and Embroidery supplies.

Level 2 – For knitters.

I spent nearly TWO HOURS (!) at Tapestry Craft and came away with a bunch of individual balls of yarn in colours that took my fancy for Sock Monkey scarfs as well as a pattern and yarn to make something for myself. I haven’t knitted anything for myself in over a year so I’d say it’s high time that I did – I’m going to do the vest on the right in that grey Italian merino and I have some vintage silver buttons at home that are going to look so sweet on this.

Yesterday was also Mr. Pink Paper Pinafore’s birthday. He was at conference all day but after he finished we took a water taxi from Circular Quay (where the Opera House is and also where the Mr’s conference is) around to Darling Harbour for dinner. I didn’t get many photos on the water as it was a bit splashy and chilly to step outside the cabin.

One of the stops was at Luna Park and I jumped outside the cabin quickly to grab a snap of the big creepy giant head – what was Australia thinking when they built those entrances! (Melbourne has one too).
We had dinner at a deceptively large seafood restaurant looking out over Darling Harbour. ½ a dozen scallops and ½ a dozen fresh oysters later I felt sufficiently seafooded out and we headed to the Lindt Chocolate Café and finished the evening off with cake – very fitting given to occasion.

Millie x

Sydney Day 1.

I had a vision of myself blogging diligently every morning while here in Sydney and posting pictures from the previous day’s adventures but at 65 cents a minute for internet access at our hotel updates need to be done quick smart!

Here’s a wrap up of the out and abouts today:

The scene at our place at 4am yesterday when we left for the airport following an all night sewing stint by yours truly. These guys are all heading to Wellington with me on Saturday - they’ll all have scarfs too if I manage to knit them this week.

St. Mary’s Cathederal in the city centre. This cathedral was really such a clash of tourists loitering around the edges and serious devotees sitting in the isles and kneeling at alters. We were also quite tickled to see people lining up for confession.

The crypt of St. Mary’s is also open to visitors. It is almost as impressive as the cathedral itself.

The Queen Victoria building was another gorgeous relic we visited today. None of my photos do justice to this place. So lovely and well maintained. We even saw one of the actors from Blue Healers at the Café we had breakfast in! hehe.

Oh yes, and the obligatory tourist snap. The classic Sydney shots of myself in front of the opera house are really not flash so we’ll stick with the Harbour Bridge. I’m quite keen to do the walk over the top if I have time though I only bought heels with me so perhaps not!

One of the delights of the day was a trip to David Jones to buy a new suit for Mr. Pinafore. We were attended to by Roger, a supremely knowledgeable tailor in his autumn years who dropped endless garment and fabric lingo into the conversation as well as charming lines like “when I was tailoring suits in the 60’s”. We felt that we were in very good hands! 

The Mr. is off to his conference from tomorrow onwards so I’ll have a chance to do all the fun things that he’s highly adverse to such as exploring the crafty stores.

Millie x

Enrolled?

I know, I know, this is a craft blog but my sense of civic duty compels me to write this post...

The cut off date to have your name printed on the electoral roll and to be part of the EasyVote system for the 2008 election is next Wednesday 8th October. If you're on that printed list an EasyVote card and information pack will be sent to you in the mail with everything you need to make voting quicker and easier come November 8th. You can of course enrol right up to November 7th but it will just make things a little more tiresome on the day.

Since I know it's mostly women who read this blog let us remember that 115 years ago New Zealand women campaigned hard so that we all had the right to vote. Did you know that we also make up 51% of all voters? If we want Parliment to reflect us we need to enroll and we need to vote on November 8.

Get an enrollment form by calling 0800 36 76 56, Freetexting your name and address to 3676, visiting a PostShop or click that shiny new orange guy on the top left of this page to check if you're enrolled and download a form if you're not.

When you're done you may wish to set aside some time over the next month to reasearh the policies of the registered political parties to be sure what you are voting for. In no particular order... oh yeah, alright, in a completly bias order:

The New Zealand Labour Party and/or Labour O8
The Green Party of Aotearoa
The New Zealand National Party
The complete list of registered New Zealand Political Parties

Millie x